July 6 Vallejo A&E Source: Bay Area Stage offers ‘Mattress’

Pilar Gonzales, as Lady Larken, and Kieren Cross, as Sir Henry, practice a few lines under the watchful eye of first-time director and Solano Community College-trained Faustino Cadiz in ‘Once Upon a Mattress’ presented by Bay Area Stage.
RICH FREEDMAN — TIMES-HERALD

Florence Cadiz is in the cast of “Once Upon a Mattress” by Bay Area Stage. And so is her brother, Felix Cadiz.

Their older sibling, Faustino Cadiz? Sorry, he can’t concern himself with acting in the community theater production, opening July 14.

He’s the director.

And since it’s his first directing assignment, the 26-year-old Faustino has more to worry about than playing favorites.

Still, so far, so good, said Stacey Loew, the theater company’s co-founder/producer/costumer/business manager.

“Faustino wanted to direct and we wanted to give him an opportunity,” Loew said. “He’s just awesome.”

Cadiz, 26, graduated from Bethel High School in Vallejo “when they had a theater program,” he said, moving on to Solano Community College and finishing at San Francisco State University.

Though Cadiz is happy with his teaching position at Highland Elementary in Vallejo, he wasn’t ready to give up on theater. So he created a drama club at the school.

The difference between coaching kids and coaching adults “sometimes isn’t that much,” grinned Cadiz at a recent “Mattress” rehearsal, proud that the young students “from the start to the end of the year are totally different.”

“As a director or teacher and educator, I’m just guiding them to get to the end and on to the next grade,” Cadiz said, adding that he took the Bay Area Stage assignment willingly.

“They didn’t bribe me,” he said smiling, having worked with Loew and co-producer Jeff Lowe on “Oliver” and “Annie Get Your Gun.”

“They’ve given me the opportunity to help them out and help my community out,” Cadiz said. “They’re Vallejo-based and I’m Vallejo-based and I thought I could hopefully bring something different” to the production.

Taking his acting experience into the director’s job “helps a lot,” Cadiz said, as does “having a teacher’s perspective.”

The key “is communication,” he said, believing he “brings a positive energy” to the play.

Cadiz said he reached a “comfort level” a week into rehearsals.

“The cast was working hard, so that meant I had to step up my game,” he said.

Cadiz said his experience at SCC “taught me about professionalism.”

He’s been just that, Loew said.

“He’s dedicated and responsible ... and everyone has to start somewhere,” she said. “We try to be as much professional as we can but we also want to give people their start, their opportunities.”

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Loew said there have been days where she hasn’t been to rehearsals.

“That’s how much confidence I have in Faustino,” said Loew, believing “Once Upon a Mattress” is the ideal debut for Cadiz.

“It’s a silly, fun story,” she said.

With only the musicians being paid, “people are here because they love to perform,” Loew said. “Or they’re learning that they love to perform.”